Spain*s private Europa Press news agency and other media outlets reported that Maza died Saturday in a Buenos Aires hospital where he had been admitted for an unspecified infection.

The 66-year-old Maza most recently led the investigation against ousted members of the Catalonia region's government for alleged rebellion, sedition and embezzlement.

The investigation was launched as the regional government held an independence referendum that Spanish courts had ruled illegal and after Catalan lawmakers declared the region as a republic separate from Spain on Oct. 27.